You're Not Innocent
by ConverseAthena
Summary: AU - Percy Jackson is known to be addicted to various substances, and he's not exactly trying to stop; he's practically the definition of a lost cause. Annabeth is doing all she can to help her best friend Thalia, who is becoming close to suicidal, so she starts going to a support group for others like her best friend. :: Percabeth
1. Once Again

**Once Again**

**This story is rated M for references to drug abuse,** **cutting, and other forms of self-harm**

**Percy**

Percy sat in the corner of his bedroom, once again wondering why his life was as fucked as it was, and, of course, why it had to be him.

He looked down at the bottle in his hand and took another sip from it; his mother would be disappointed once he saw what he was doing again, but it was something he couldn't really help.

He looked at the clock on his nightstand and saw it was 3:44pm. 5pm sharp was when support group was supposed to start. Support group was supposed to help him get over the addictions he had, to try to bring him back into civilization. But who was he kidding? He would never be normal. That was something that he had accepted a long time ago.

He heard the front door open to what was,to be blunt, an excuse for an apartment. He heard his mother's and step-father's voices.

His Mum opened hisbedroom door.

"Percy, we're home. We brought you so—" His Mum cut off whatever she was about to say when she saw the bottle in his hand. "Oh, hunny, where'd you get this?"

"A place."

"You know you're not supposed to be drinking."

"Well, would you rather I self-harm instead? So the whole world can seehow much of a freak I am?"

His Mum bent down as far as she could at seven months pregnant. "Hunny, you know what I mean. You need to stop this. I'm worried about you. You're my baby boy, and I hate watching you throw your life away."

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to be your baby boy once that thing is here."

"Percy, we've talked about this. Anyway, the baby could be a girl, and then there would be no reason for you to be jealous."

"I'm not jealous, I'm just stating a fact. I'm the bastard, the mistake. The kid that you had when you were fifteen. The kid that caused you to drop everything you had worked towards so I could have a decent life.

"And now you have this new kid on the way, one you did plan, witha husband who won't abandon you,"

Sally shook her head.

"Come on, hunny, come eat some food. Then you're going to go have a shower. Then I'll drive you over to support group, and you'll see your friends," Sally told him wearily.

"Friend, you mean friend. The only decent person in that place is Thalia."

"Okay, whatever you say. Now, quickly, before the food gets cold."

The food was just Chinese take-out from a quick restaurant down the street. It was basically what they could afford. After all, a teacher's pay is crap, and don't even get him started on the wages his Mum receives from working at the little candy shop.

After Percy took his shower, he met his Mum at the car, and she drove him to the weekly support group.

"Have fun, and tell me if anything exciting happens today," Sally said.

"Sure will, but I doubt that anything exciting is going to happen. 'Cause it never does."

She smiled. "Well, you never know."

Percy rolled his eyes and got out of the car and walked into the building.

o.O.o.O.o

When Percy got to the group he saw Thalia sitting down with a spare seat next to her.

"Hey, douche, can I just say I can smell the reek of alcohol on your breath from here?" Thalia said as he sat down.

"Well, it looks to me that like you have some pretty fresh scars on your wrists. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they came about today."

"Oh, shut up, at least I have friends outside of this place."

"I'm sorry, Thalia, but I'm pretty sure that's total bullshit. No one here has friends outside of this place. We're considered freaks, if you didn't notice already."

"I did notice, and anyway, this friend might be coming to the group next week," Thalia said.

"Aha, see, if she is coming to this place, she is obviously a freak like us." Percy smirked, thinking he had won the argument.

"Oh no, she is no freak. She is a straight A student who focuses on her studies and hopes to be accepted into the NYU. She's only coming here because she's worried I might get ideas on other ways to self-harm by listening to everyone else."

Percy didn't believe her one bit, but he kept his mouth closed. Joel had just come in.

Joel believed anyone could get over inner demons without resorting to self-harm, so he was the leader of the support group

"Welcome, everybody, to another week of support group. Today, as everyone can see, Michaela won't be joining us. Itis for a sad reason. She couldn't put up the fight with her inner demons anymore. May her poor blessed soul rest in peace."

Percy looked around and saw the sad looks amongst the group. But they didn't pity her, they envied her. She at least got to escape the world. He's heard it before from them, last time someone committed suicide. "Now, does anyone have anything they want to bring up?" Joel asked. But Percy just zoned out for the rest of the time.

o.O.o.O.o

"Hey, support group'sover." Thalia nudged him.

"Oh,all right,thanks."

"Whatever," she muttered. "See you next week."

"Yeah, see ya."

Percy pretty much ran for his Mum's car, eager to get out of the dreadful place.

When he got into the car he saw that Sally had an excited look on her face.

"So, Percy, anything exciting happen at support group today?" she asked him.

"No, not really. Theonly thing that was different was at the start when Joel mentioned Michaela's suicide."

"Oh, the poor thing. I just hope, Percy, that you will never reach the point where you think your life isn't worth living, because there is always a reason. Remember that." She took a deep breathe "Speaking of which, I was putting some laundry away when I found your stash of weed."

Percy inhaled quickly at that. He'd admit he didn't put it in the best hiding spot, but she sounded disappointed, and while it didn't seem like he cared what his parents thought, hedid. His Mum meant the world to him.

"Anyway, you need to stop this. Who knows how this thing you're doing to your body is going to affect you in the future?"

"Mum, you know how hard it is to stop these addictions. I can't—youdon't understand." She gave him sad look and started to drive back home.

o.O.o.O.o

When they got back to the apartment, Percy raced upstairs into the bedroom and locked the door.

He checked where he hid the stash of weed that his Mum must have been talking about. He saw that it was gone, as he had expected.

But he knew to always keep a secret stash in a loose floorboard under the desk he had never used.

He crawled under his desk and took away the loose floorboard. He had a range of things under there, but this timehe onlyneeded alcohol. That was one of the main addictions.

He quickly popped open the cap and drank some. He sighed in relief. Even though it had only been a few hours, he needed it.

He kept drinking after that bottle; he lost count after bottle number four. He didn't usually drink this much, but what Thalia had said earlier had gotten to him. He didn't have any friends outside of support group. He was the social outcast at school; no one would dare to talk to Percy Jackson, the kid that was either drunk or high, and if he wasn't either, he was dead.

He fell into a deep slumber once he finished the last bottle.

o.O.o.O.o

The headache was killing him.

Percy normally didn't regret drinking; it helped the numbness he felt inside, buthe'd admit, he might have had one too many bottles the previous night.

When he entered his Basic Science class, his teacher decided to have a go at him. "Jackson! Why are you twentyminutes late for class?"

"Well, you see, Mr. McCatch, I didn't really want to show up to this class. Also I have a massive headache at this current moment, so that doesn't exactly help my motivation either."

Percy heard some snickers amongst the class, but it wasn't because of the way he talked to his teacher.

"Oi, sir! You should give the guy a break, I mean, he's probably high or something," he heard one of the jocks say. Nearly everybody laughed at the comment.

Percy was really sick of this school; it was because of these people here that students killed themselves. With their constant snarky comments, beating up kids that didn't deserve it, shit like that.

He walked out and just ran to wherever he could.

He needed to get those thoughts out of his mind. Suicide was such a terrible thing to commit, but it seemed nowadays, it seemed likeone of the best options that he had.

Most people looked down on suicide, saying that people who committed it were selfish and didn't care about others, but in reality, they believe that no one in the world cares for them anymore. That they are no longer needed. And so they sacrifice themselves, oblivious to the world.

o.O.o.O.o

The next time Percy arrived atthe support group there was a new girl, a blonde. She was sitting next to Thalia, which was his normal seat.

Percy realized that this must be the so-called 'friend' that Thalia was talking about.

Once Joel came in and started rambling on about the usual stuff, Percy noticed Blondie looking at him. She quickly looked away.

"So, Thalia, I'm looking at your wrists, and the scars don't look that fresh. Do you want to share what's been happening since we all last saw each other?" Joel asked Thalia.

"Oh, they don't look fresh 'cause I haven't cut in two days, and really, you think I cut every day? 'Cause you know, that's actually pretty fucking rude," Thalia spat, looking quite offended.

"No, Thalia, I don't think that; it'sjust that you usually come in with fresh scars. But this is great. Let your anger out; let the inner demons out."

Percy saw Thalia roll her eyes.

"Well, I don't actually like ninety-five percent of the people here, so no, I won't fucking let my anger out. If I don't like them, I definitely don't trust them."

"Okay, Thalia, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. Would anyone else like to speak about their inner demons instead?" Joel asked. Noone answered.

"I don't want to put the pressure onto anyone else," Joel looked at his watch, "and would you look at that, it's 6:31; we've gone a minute longer than we should have. Goodbye,everyone. I hope to see you all next week."

Percy got out of the place and ran out to his Mum's car, but not before he noticed that Blondie had been looking at him again.

"So anything exciting happen, anything new?" Sally asked.

"Once again, no. Oh, wait, there was a new girl there. One of Thalia's friends. I don't even know why she was there. I mean, there's nothing fucking wrong with her."

"Oh, a girl, you say?" Sally asked with an amused look.

"No, nothing like that. And quite frankly, I'm not interested in dating anytime soon."

Sally turned her head to him with a sad look in her eyes.

"Hunny, I know it's hard, but it's been seven months. I think it's time to move on. Maybegoing on a date or two would help you," Sally said.

Percy rolled his eyes. "No, Mum, it wouldn't. Can you just trust me on that, please? I can make my own decisions. Anyway,why would she, a normal person with a normal life, want to date someone like me? A guy that's addicted to pretty much any substance you could get addicted to?"

"Well, I thought you said she was friends with Thalia? So obviously she is used to, as you say, 'not-normal people'."

"Ha-ha. Very funny, Mum. Anyway, I'm just not interested okay?"

Sally smiled, and patted her bloated stomach.

"Come on. Let'sgo home."

o.O.o.O.o

Percy was starting to become really curious about Blondie. In each session, he always caught her staring at him. He wasn't exactly sure why either.

But he refused to ask. He would somehow let it slip to his Mum that he had been talking to her, and he just didn't want her to get her hopesup, especially not in her condition.

The pregnancy had surprised him, and yet it hadn't. HisMum was only 32, and his stepfather Paul was 33. It was normal now for people to have kids in their thirties.

He didtake his time to look at Blondie. She was decent looking, but it didn't look like she really tried either. After all, the only clothes he had ever seen her in were T-shirts and shorts.

Blondie mostly kept to herself during the sessions. Well, she would talk to Thalia. Percy couldn't blame her at the support group was unstable in some way. Some people here Percy swore were insane; they were just yet to be told by the professionals.

"Hey, Thalia, who's your blonde friend? Sorry, could you please introduce yourself and say why you're here? Remember thatno one here is judged by what our inner demons cause us to do," Joel said.

"My name is Annabeth, just Annabeth, nothing else. I don't really have any problems. I'm just here to support Thalia," Blondie said.

"Ah, okay, that's great that Thalia has a friend like you," Joel said. "That way, she has someone to help her with her inner demons apart from support group."

"Yeah, okay," she muttered.

Joel continued to ask questions. The good thing about Joel was that he knew how many times in a row he could ask a person. He learnt as soon as Percy started attending that he should ask him how he was doing once a month; Percy would get pissed when he asked how he was coping too many times in a row.

Once it was all over, Percy didn't run to the car like he normally would; he just speed walked.

When he got tothe car, his Mum was smirking.

"How come you're not running out of there like you normally do?" she asked.

"I don't know. I'm tired. Can we just go home, please?"

"So it has nothing to do with the new girl who joined a few weeks ago?"

Percy groaned and looked over to see his Mum smirking.

"No, it's nothing like that. Now can we please go home?"

"Uh-huh, okay, whatever you say."

Percy shook his head.

**AN: And here as promised my new story, I'm very excited about this. And something I forgot to mention when I finished my last story was a huge thank you to my beta reader - Bushwah, who puts up with my very bad grammar.**

**I'm not sure what is going to happening with my updating schedule.**

**Until next time**

**ConverseaAthena**


	2. Normalcy

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, rights belong to Rick Riordan. I do not own Looking for Alaska, rights belong to John Green. **

**Normalcy**

**Annabeth**

Annabeth had been attending the support group meetings with Thalia for about a month now.

The boy with the black hair hadn't escaped her attention. He seemed to resent these meetings more than Thalia did, which she didn't think was possible considering how much Thaliacomplained about the meetings before Annabeth started attending them.

He didn't talk much, nor was he asked many questions. Annabeth was curious as to why, butwhen she asked Thalia, she would only smirk.

"Hey, you're staring at the douche again," Thalia whispered to her.

"Could you please explain why he's a douche?"

"He just is, but he's okay, I guess. Well, actually, he's probably one of the most decent people in this hellhole."

Annabeth chuckled. "So, why's he here?"

"Well, that's not my story to tell, is it?"

Annabeth glared at her.

"So, Percy, we haven't heard from you for a while. How's your life? The addictions still as bad as they were before?" Joel asked.

Percy grunted. "Yes, they are."

"Well, do you want to give us any more information about it? Come on, Percy, we haven't heard from you in two months. Let your inner demons out."

She could see Percy glaring at Joel.

"What if I don't want to let my, as you say, let my 'inner demons out'? What if I'm quite happy just not telling anyone about my problems?"

"Well, that is unfortunate, butPercy, everyone needs to say something here. And, well, I haven't asked you anything for a while now. Could you please tell everyone here how you feel?"

"You wanna know how I feel? Well, I feel like shit, so there is your answer."

"Well, maybe, Percy, we could hear a bit more than that. Because that is really the only thing you'll tell us. That you feel like shit. You've been attending the support group for a year and a half now; tell us, how are you feeling?"

Percy glared at Joel. "I told you, I feel like shit. I hate my life, I hate my school, and I hate pretty much everything. Are you fucking happy with that answer instead?"

Joel smiled at him. "Yes, I am happy with that answer. You're letting some more inner demons out. Just let them out, Percy. We're here for you, remember."

Percy shifted in his chair and muttered something Annabeth couldn't hear.

Joel went on asking other people how their lives were until support group was over.

Once Thalia and Annabeth got into Thalia's car, Annabeth launched into a bunch of questions.

"Is that Percy guy's life really that bad, Thals?"

"Well, I know only a little more than you do, and I have to say he has had it pretty rough."

"How rough?"

"Annabeth, will you honestly stop asking questions about the douche? Itsounds like you're interested in him or something. And I can tell you right now, you don't want to be involved with him."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I'm not interested in him. Hejust sticks out in the group."

"Well, whatever, just stop asking about him."

The rest of the car ride to Annabeth's house was quiet, with music playing in the background.

Annabeth got out of the car and said a quick good-bye to her friend, before she walked into her house.

When she walked in she was greeted by the smell of a roast and her twin brothers running around screaming.

Annabeth rolled her eyes at what could have been called 'hominess' but in reality it was the nanny cooking the dinner. Not her mother. There was no way her Mum would even set foot into the kitchen. It was the nanny's job to cook and clean. Her mother was a successful lawyer who spent too much time at work, andher father pretty much did the exact same thing.

Annabeth walked upstairs into what many people would consider a large bedroom. The room was a creamy colour, with all white furniture. She went to her schoolbag and pulled out the task requirements sheet for the essay due in three weeks.

She looked over it and groaned when she saw that the book review had to be 5000 words minimum. Annabeth was considered smart among her peers but that didn't mean she enjoyed doing these papers.

Still,it had to be done. Colleges expected above-average grades and perfect attendance. It was what she needed if she wanted the scholarship, andthe last thing anyone wants is to be buried in student debt.

When she was halfway done with the essay, she was called by the nanny to come downstairs for dinner,

And when she got to the dining room, she could see that Leah had once again prepared the perfect meal for the perfect family—exceptthat her parents weren't even here to eat it. Dinner was eaten in silence, as it always was. As soon as Annabeth had finished eating, she went upstairs to finish her draft.

By the time Annabeth had finished the draft, it was 10pm. A yawn escaped her mouth.She shut down her laptop and finally fell asleep.

o.O.o.O.o

Annabeth was walking the school halls next to Thalia, and she noticed all the stares and whispers. They weren't directed at her, of course, but at her friend.

The stares were directed at the deep cuts on her friend's wrists. Even though her friend tried to cover them up, her sleeve would fall down and they were revealed to the world.

For this, Thalia had become known as the suicidal emo. Her friend was a punk, not an emo,but that didn't matter to the students. Itwas something to gossip about if there was nothing new to talk about.

No one at their school understood how the two of them came to be friends. Annabeth was the smart girl whowas almost always the top of her class, and if not she was second. Thalia was the emo who kept to herself and threatened anyone who got in her way.

They had become friends in Elementary school. There were kids that had started to pick on Thalia; Annabeth being a child completely against bullying had stood up for her. They grew closer from that day on.

o.O.o.O.o

When Annabeth got home, she was shocked to find her mother was also home.

Athena was clearly working on something, but it didn't matter. She was still home before 11pm, which was something different.

"Uh, hey Mum, what are you doing here?"

"Hmm?" Athena looked up and spotted Annabeth, "What did you say, darling?"

"I said, what are you doing here? I mean, why aren't you at work?"

"Oh, they're having power difficulties. It won't be back on until at least tomorrow. Therewas no point in trying to do my work there when I have a house with power and Internet I could use."

Annabeth slumped her shoulders. Of course that was the reason she was home early. It would never occur to her mother that maybe she should spend more time with her children than at work.

"Okay, Mum, I'm just going upstairs into my bedroom."

She had only been given homework from one class that day, maths. Annabeth quite enjoyed Maths, as it was similar to architectural design, with the measurements and having to plan everything and placing it in the right order to get the correct answer.

Once Annabeth was done with her homework, she just sat there on her bed andwondered what it would be like to live in a normal house. A house where there wasn't a nanny to cook, clean and look after the kids. One where the parents would be home by 7pm.

But she had a privileged life, a good one. She was just being selfish because she didn't have everything.

o.O.o.O.o

When the next Wednesday rolled around, Thalia was sick, but Annabeth still went to support group. She didn't know why she did it. Staying home would have saved an hour and a half of her time.

Joel kept talking about everyone's inner demons, and how he was proud that he was seeing a lot of the people here getting over them. Annabeth was looking at Percy again. Shedidn't know why, but he somehow fascinated her.

She noticed that he was always moving somehow, whether it was his fingers tapping against his legs or his head bobbing to music that wasn't there.

Annabeth listened to everyone's problems. It seemed that she was one of the only people that paid attention when someone else was speaking.

It still shocked her how many people thought that their lives weren't worth anything. Shehad heard it all from Thalia before, but she hadn't heard about anyone else that shared the same feelings as her friend.

o.O.o.O.o

When support group ended, Annabeth ran up to Percy. She tapped his shoulder. He turned around to face her, and itdawned upon her how tall he really was. He was at least half a head taller, if not more, and she was considered to be very tall, with her 5'10 frame.

"What do you want?" he said harshly.

Annabeth started to panic, she didn't know what she even wanted to say. "There's no need to be rude. I just wanted to introduce myself—"

He cut her off. "I know who you are. You'reAnnabeth, the new girl who doesn't have anything wrong with her but still attends the meetings. You're Thalia's friend. Why are you even here? I mean, come on; Thalia isn't, so why are you?"

Annabeth didn't respond. She didn't know how. She didn't even know why she had turned up that day.

"Well?" he asked.

"Listen, there's no need to be rude. I was just being polite and introducing myself. Then you go off and snap at me. There's no need for that."

"Yeah, well, I don't care what you think. I don't even know you. This is our first conversation."

"Well, you could at least try making it a friendly one."

"What if I don't want to have a 'friendly conversation'?"

"Well, as a decent person, you _should_ want to have one."

"Oh, so are you saying I'm not a decent person? That's a little harsh considering we've never even spoken to each other before today."

"I didn't even say that! You're twisting my words. "

"But you implied it."

"I did not imply it! I just said you should try at least have a friendly conversation with me. Then you somehow get into that thick head of yours that I said you weren't a decent person!"

"Well, aren't you just a lovely person to talk to," hesaid and stalkedoff to his car.

Annabeth was furious. She could see now why Thalia called him a douche, and she'd hate to have a conversation with anyone else at this support group if he was apparently the only decent person there.

Annabeth stomped off to her own car before getting in it and turning up her music very loud.

o.O.o.O.o

When Annabeth got home, she had calmed herself down somewhat from the argument she had had with Percy, but shestill couldn't believe how rude he had been to her. Normally when you talk to someone for the first time you try to be nice, and try not to come off as a rude arrogant asshole who doesn't want to talk to anyone.

Annabeth ate her food quickly before disappearing off into her bedroom to dwell on her thoughts.

She honestly didn't get why it bothered her so much that Percy had been rude to her. People were rude to her all the time, and it would never bother her like that.

She debated in her head for a few minutes on whether she should call Thalia and ask her about it, and in the end she decided to go for it.

She grabbed her phone from where it was charging and dialed Thalia's phone number. It rang three times before Thalia picked up the phone.

"Hey, what's up, Annie? Why you calling me now, of all times? Shouldn'tyou be doing your homework like a good little girl?" Thalia said.

"Ha-ha, so funny. Anyway, I went to support grou—"

She was cut off. "Wait, why did you go to support group? I mean, I wasn't there, so you didn't need to go."

"Doesn't matter. Anyway, I went there, and after it finished I went up to talk to Percy."

"Wait, you did what? I told you not to talk about him, so what'd you do, you go to talk to him?" She heard Thalia sigh.

"Well, anyway, when I talked to him, I couldn't believe how rude he was to me. I mean, practically as soon as I said hi, he was extremely rude."

"I dunno, Annabeth. Maybe it's because he doesn't like it when people start putting their noses in his business."

"But I wasn't doing that; I was just sayi—"

"Annabeth, let me finish. Percy is a very private person and he doesn't like letting people in. I've known him for a year and the only thing I know about him is his Mum's name. And I'm the person that he's closest to in support group. So don't you, and I'm sorry to say this, 'little Miss Perfect' go and try to get close to him. You don't have depression or any addictions. You have rich parents. I mean, come on, Annabeth, you kind of have it all."

Annabeth sat there in silence. What Thalia said wastrue. All of it was.

"Sorry, Thals, I didn't realise. Hopefully you'll feel better tomorrow and come to school. Bye."

"Bye."

Annabeth hung up and put her phone on the bedside table.

She hated being called that name, but she knew a lot of people called her that behind her back. She had the perfect life, one everyone envied.

She got off her bed and went to her bookshelf. She was in the mood to read something.

She grabbed her well-worn copy of _Looking for Alaska_ by John Green.

It was one her favourite books for many reasons. It talks about living life to its fullest, and it shows that some of us are broken inside and we just don't see it sometimes. It shows not everyone gets a happy ending.

She was about 90 pages in when she looked at the time on her clock. It showed 10:57pm.

Annabeth sighed as she got up from her bed and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Once she was done she quickly lay down in her bed trying to sleep.

But sleep didn't want to come to her that night. She stayed up, tossing and turning, unable to escape from her thoughts.

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm back after a week. Okay I'm setting a challenge for myself, the latest I will update a chapter is three weeks maximum.**

**Until next time**

**ConverseAthena**


	3. Addictions of Sorts

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson and Olympians series, or the song You're Not Innocent, all rights belong to those deserving.**

**Chapter III**

**Addictions of Sorts**

**Percy**

Percy was walking down the street, keeping his head down and his hoodie up. He followed his usual route once he realized that he was nearly out of supply. He turned left into the alley, where his dealer would be waiting for him.

Kelly grunted. "All right, kid, you got your cash?"

Percy grabbed the cash from his pocket, knowing exactly how much he needed.

Percy nodded and handed over the money. In return, Kelly gave him a plain brown paper bag.

"Thanks, man."

Kelly grunted in reply.

Percy quickly went walked away from the alley. Even he wasn't going to stay in such a dodgy place for too long. That could lead to all kinds of trouble that he really didn't need.

The only good thing about his dealer was that he was close to his parents' apartment. He wasn't gone too long, and most of the time his parents didn't even realize that he was missing.

He scaled the run-down fire escape as quietly as he could and jumped into his bedroom window. The room was empty; no one had been waiting for him. He let out a sigh of relief."

He quickly went to his desk and removed the loose floorboard. He had decided that this was going to be his permanent hiding spot for all the substances, as it had yet to be discovered by his Mum.

He decided to not have anything tonight. That hadn't happened in a long time, but he needed to save the drugs and alcohol. He had been having more than usual, meaning he was running out quicker, and he couldn't get money very often, so he needed to save enough to be able to afford it.

He also had to be more careful when he went out. His Mum had been checking up on him more and more often. It was because the signs of being high and drunk were nearly always on him: dilated pupils, pink cheeks, and of course, the stink on his breath.

It was becoming harder and harder for Percy to live with himself day to day. As Joel would say, he was having trouble battling his inner demons.

The people at school weren't exactly helping him, was sick of the whispers he heard behind his back, the way they talked about him. He rarely attended any of his classes these days.

He knew why Michaela and all the others committed suicide: it was a way to escape a horrible world where if you didn't have everything, life wasn't worth living. This thought had been constantly coming into his mind.

Support group was becoming a place worse than useless for him, but he had to keep going for his Mum's sake. He had to give her hope that there might be a chance that he could get better, even though he knew there wasn't.

His half-sibling was due in a matter of weeks. For the first few months, of course, the baby would be staying in his parents' room, but he knew the child would eventually have to come into his bedroom.

Percy knew that he would have to move out when that happened. No matter how much he hated the idea of a new sibling. He wouldn't do the things he did to himself with a baby in his bedroom with him 24/7.

He would have to get a job to be able to afford a roof over his head. There was no way he would live on the streets. He didn't need any more looks from strangers that thought he was crazy.

That was why he hated all the 'rich kids'. They could have anything they wanted, whenever they wanted it. Hell, he'd seen these kids at school doing the exact same things as him, but because he had an actual reason to be poisoning his body and mind, that meant he was the loser.

_She _had known the impact it would have on him, and she'd still left him and the world behind.

The door creaked open, and Paul came in. "Hey, Percy, we just got dinner. Did you want to come and have some?"

"Not hungry."

"Percy, I've been here all day, and you haven't eaten since this morning. Come and get some food."

"Why should I?"

"Because you need to eat food to survive."

"Well, what if I don't want to survive?"

Paul rolled his eyes. "Come on, Percy, it's going to take a while to starve to death. Might as well eat something. I was a teenage boy myself once. I know how hungry you can get."

"Yeah, well, you were a normal teenager, weren't you? I'm not normal."

"Percy, just because you have some learning disabilities doesn't mean you're not normal."

Percy glared at Paul. "You know it's not just that that makes me different."

Percy got off his bed and shoved past Paul into the kitchen to see a decent-looking meal.

"Who made this?"

"I did," Paul answered.

Percy what he had said earlier, he was hungry.

While he ate, his parents made small talk. Percy finished his food as fast as he could, put his plate in the sink, and went straight into his bedroom.

He felt his skin burning at the fact he hadn't had anything today.

He couldn't put it off any longer. He ran straight to the loose floorboard under his desk and grabbed three pills. He wasn't sure which; he couldn't be bothered to look, but he knew three was enough to put him in a deep sleep.

o.O.o.O.o

When Percy woke the next day, he had a minor headache, but he didn't care. He'd grown used to waking up with some sort of pain.

He did the usual routine: go to the kitchen to eat breakfast, reassure his Mum that he wouldn't do anything life-threatening today, go to school, come home.

When he got home, his Mum was waiting for him.

"Hey, Percy, the doctor doesn't want me driving around anymore. I'm close to giving birth, and the last thing I need is to have an accident because I fell into labour." She laughed. "Anyway, I'm not going to be able to drive you to support group today. Paul is going to be taking you instead. The last thing I need is to stop you going to those meetings. They really are helping you."

Percy nodded.

He stared at the ceiling in his bedroom until 4:50pm rolled around. When his stepfather came into the bedroom telling him that it was time to leave, he groaned and muttered things under his breath, but he got up.

The drive to support group seemed longer than usual. There was usually something he could talk about with his Mum without the car filling up with awkward tension.

When his stepfather dropped him off, he slowly walked to the building. Thalia and Annabeth had already arrived, and Percy groaned.

He didn't like that Annabeth kept attending these things when she had nothing wrong with her, especially last week when she turned up for support group and Thalia wasn't even there.

She came here by choice, something Percy would never do. If he had the choice of whether to attend or not, he definitely wouldn't come.

Thalia motioned him to come over. As Joel had yet to arrive, everyone was standing outside the building.

He didn't want to talk, but he had nothing else to do.

"Hey, dick, what did I miss last week?" Thalia said.

"I dunno, ask your friend here. I mean, she attended, even though she has nothing wrong with her."

"Yeah, I know all about that. Don't I, Annie?"

Annabeth glared at Thalia. "What have I told you about calling me that?"

"I don't know, maybe something along the lines of _do not call me that, my name is Annabeth, not Annie_?"

"Yes, exactly that."

Percy stood there for a minute looking at her if she were crazy, he much preferred his nickname over his real name.

"Anyway, Percy, when is the baby due?"

"A few weeks."

Annabeth had a look of confusion on her face. "What baby? Are you going to be a dad?" She looked seriously concerned.

"No, no way. I'll probably never end up having kids. My Mum is expecting a baby. It'll be my first sibling."

"Wow, only one sibling? I have two."

Percy gave her a look of distaste. "Is there something wrong with me not having any other siblings?"

A look of shock came across her face.

"No, and I didn't say anything of the sort."

"Well, it sounds like you were being a snobby little brat. 'Wow, he only has one sibling, and it's not even born yet, while I have to put up with _two_.'"

"I never said anything like that at all. It's all in your head, I say."

"Did it ever cross your mind that it really is? That everything we feel is all in our heads? I mean, most of us here think our lives aren't worth living. So yeah, it technically is all 'in our heads'." Percy trudged away. He couldn't believe this girl.

He was angry for the rest of the evening. He couldn't wait for support group to finish so he could get away from her. She was really starting to get on his nerves.

o.O.o.O.o

That night, Percy grabbed four rolls of marijuana. He smoked it as slowly as he could so that the smell of smoke coming from his bedroom wasn't wouldn't b**e **too strong.

He hadn't done weed in a while, but Annabeth had made him very angry that afternoon, and he needed to let off steam. He hated the fact that she was trying to act like the rest of them. She had a perfectly fine life where she was. Why would she come and do things that weren't necessary?

She probably had the perfect family, the perfect life. His life was far from that.

She probably knew both her were probably still married. They were probably a reasonable age when they had her.

The age difference between her and her siblings was probably perfectly even.

They all probably had their own bedrooms.

She and her other siblings would most likely all play a sport. They would have to attend sporting events every second weekend.

She probably lived in a house, instead of a cheap crappy apartment.

Her house was probably pristine and perfect.

She probably owned a family dog, purebred, with the papers to prove it.

From the way she spoke, she was smart, too, maybe one of the smartest kids in the school. Probably had already been accepted into some fancy college, where she would graduate get some kind of degree. And have some real successful top notch job.

Basically she had everything he didn't, had everything that he wanted in life. And he hated her for it.

Still, at least she didn't dress like she was the perfect rich kid. She dressed in shirts and shorts; not the kind of shorts that looked like denim underwear, the kind that came down to around mid-thigh.

She dressed like a normal person, and that was something Percy could admire.

But sometimes the shirts Annabeth would wear, it were too similar to the shirt that _she_ had worn. And that just brought Percy too many sad and depressing thoughts that he didn't need to bear on his shoulders at that moment.

His Mum was right about him needing to get over her, and he nearly was, but every little thing reminded him of her. Whenever he walked past a place she used to love going to, or even saw her favourite type of soda,he would fall into a state of depression, staring off into space.

It was in these little time slots that he felt more depressed than usual, that his urge for giving everything up was a little , he even had got together the right amount of pills, but he could never do it. His thoughts would always come back to his Mum, and as long as his Mum was alive, he could never commit suicide.

He breathed in the roll slowly. He was entering a state of bliss, as most do when they breathe the stuff in. He was starting to feel a little bit towards the state of happiness. He would obviously never experience that again, but he loved the feeling of it. He wondered how so many people could feel this particular emotion so often.

Something he loved about being in the state of happiness was that it brought a great expression upon someone when they were feeling it.

He saw it on his mother's face when she walked down the aisle to Paul.

He saw it on kids' faces when they received an A on a test.

He saw it on his Mum's face again when she told him that Paul and her were expecting their first child.

He'd seen it on _her _face when they did something together that was special to the two of them, and on Paul's after the baby had kicked for the first time.

o.O.o.O.o

When Percy went to school that day he decided that he would actually turn up to one of his classes…on time. Needless to say, when his English teacher Ms. Jonson walked in, she was mildly shocked to see him sitting in his seat.

Because in all of his classes he was on the basic, they were learning about Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing' a play by Shakespeare . That day they focused on how the play was one of the only stories ever written by Shakespeare that didn't have a tragic ending.

Percy normally hated funny words and his dyslexia definitely weren't a good , Shakespeare taught that the sappy 'romance' that audiences loved would end in disaster in real life. It was realistic.

When his teacher went amongst the students asking them questions relating to what they had discussed today, Percy didn't expect her to ask him a question.

"Percy, as today you were present the entire**—**"

"Ain't that a first!"

His teacher ignored the comment. "As you were present for the entire period, could you please tell us why the play is considered to have a happy ending?"

Percy thought about it a bit, trying to remember. "Wasn't it something to do with, uh, marriage?"

"Yes, that's exactly it. Having people get married at the end,it showed a happy ending for the characters,which is something you don't see normally in Shakespeare."

The class muttered an agreement, as the bell rang.

"Okay, class dismissed."

Ms Jonson called Percy to her desk before he could pack his things.

"Now, Percy, I've noticed you haven't been attending many of my classes."

"Miss, I know. I'll try—"

"I know, I know. 'I'll try to do better, I promise'. Percy, I've been given that speech many times before.I know just how much that promise means to you. Now, you were paying attention in class today. I'm very happy about that; don't get me wrong, but your grades are too far behind. They have been for a while. The last assignment you handed in, the one on Gothic Fantasy? You earned a D on that. The assignment before, it was a D+. Your grades are falling behind. I'm going to have to schedule an interview with your parents."

She slipped him a piece of paper.

"And with this, Percy, I highly suggest in hiring a tutor or something of the sort."

Percy nodded, grabbed the note, and ran out of the classroom.

The halls had mostly cleared up, what with the students going to all their other classes. Percy got to his locker and started kicking it. Even if he didn't give his Mum the note, his teacher would probably tell Paul anyway. That was the biggest downside to having his stepdad working at his high school.

He decided he was sick of school, he walked to a nearby café, ignoring one of the teachers patrolling the campus telling him to stop.

He checked his bag to see if he had any change and saw he had just enough to buy a plain black coffee.

When his order was ready, he took the coffee back to the apartment to find that his Mum was still asleep. He thanked whatever God there was for that. The last thing he needed was to get a lecture on skipping school. Still, he would most likely get it this afternoon, as Paul would definitely know.

He went into his bedroom and just laid on his bed. Without any thoughts coming to his mind, he fell into a peaceful sleep.

**A/N: Guess who has Blood of Olympus and is already 50 pages in. But in all seriousness the book is amazing so far, and hilarious. And guess what I made my three week deadline (by just, but that doesn't matter). Anyway I'm happy with this chapter. Hope you guys liked it. And a writer always loves to hear what you think of their stories in reviews.**


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